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[PRIME] Pre-PAX Dinner: Get Involved
Posts
(doubly so if I'm around)
Hey now, no fair! You can only go in my place if you bring me back booze. Also, get yerself an avatar already you silly goose.
EDIT: I'm assuming that once we get ourselves a bit more organized we'll be firing up a new thread?
PAX 2013 STATUS - Badges: PURCHASED Hotel: RESERVED Vacation: Awaiting approval Plane Tickets: Waiting on vacation approval.
hmm... May's out for me, I'll still be at work then. But if you're still needing to do some "research" around say, mid-late June.... I might be able to make it to Seattle for a few days. I'm extremely well qualified as a "research assistant".
@TOGSolid Bring you back booze?!! You're the reason my rum is always gone...
Speaking of finding places, I think prior dinners have usually had about a month and a half of actual ticket sell time so let's try and shoot for being wrapped up with all this by mid-July. Y/N?
PAX 2013 STATUS - Badges: PURCHASED Hotel: RESERVED Vacation: Awaiting approval Plane Tickets: Waiting on vacation approval.
Looking for fun stuff to do before and after PAX? Here's a handy PAX Event Sticky!
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Organization, fuck yeah. People always do generally work better with a deadline.
So since it works out almost too neatly:
May == Find and secure a place w/ Barca as a backup in case no other great alternatives pop up
June == FOOD
First week or two of July == Flex weeks to wrap things up if necessary
Second half of July - PAAAAAAAAAX == Tickets on sale OR ELSE CTHULHU EATS OUR BRAINS
And obviously, the sooner each step is done the better to allow for maximum ticket sale time.
PAX 2013 STATUS - Badges: PURCHASED Hotel: RESERVED Vacation: Awaiting approval Plane Tickets: Waiting on vacation approval.
Um... point of order? Cthulu doesn't eat brainz. HE EATS YOUR SOUL.
Which is much more permanent, I think.
Looking for fun stuff to do before and after PAX? Here's a handy PAX Event Sticky!
Check out www.feastygeeks.blogspot.com for your geek, game and meme recipe needs.
Nah, I filled that void up ages ago with alcohol, I'd be more of a rum filled candy than an actual candidate for soul harvesting.
PAX 2013 STATUS - Badges: PURCHASED Hotel: RESERVED Vacation: Awaiting approval Plane Tickets: Waiting on vacation approval.
this sure does suck
Damn. That I'd like to see, Nomad.
So on that note, I can at least confirm that I'll still be heading to PAX so I'm good to go to help get this dinner ball rolling! When are you all gonna go cruise the area to see what's around?
PAX 2013 STATUS - Badges: PURCHASED Hotel: RESERVED Vacation: Awaiting approval Plane Tickets: Waiting on vacation approval.
Your ever-awesome Frog-Backpack Girl.
Disagree. The vast majority of hipster bars are on Cap Hill. Belltown, however (a whopping 4 minute walk from the Ballroom) has just as many pubs and places to visit, including a couple that cater pretty heavily to gamers (Shorty's, which has an extensive pinball collection, and the pool hall across the street from it). It's also closer to our more historic clubs such as The Crocodile and others, where the grunge scene took hold.
I know I'm over-simplifying this, but I know others are over-complicating it, as well. The beauty to going with Tom Douglas is that they have people who will take care of every detail for you, so that you don't have to - and it doesn't cost all that much, considering that you're getting a catered meal created by a James Beard award winning chef.
So, for now, your idea could be a suggestion to the awesome-folks who are going to be handling the Dinner this year.
Your ever-awesome Frog-Backpack Girl.
I'm not trying to sound rude, I appreciate the suggestion, I just need way more information first.
PAX 2013 STATUS - Badges: PURCHASED Hotel: RESERVED Vacation: Awaiting approval Plane Tickets: Waiting on vacation approval.
I'd rather keep the crawl on the Hill, since it is an area that people are familiar with, as well as bars that will be familiar and probably better prepared for us!
Perhaps you could do some legwork and get some details on this location and pricing?...
PAX 2013 STATUS - Badges: PURCHASED Hotel: RESERVED Vacation: Awaiting approval Plane Tickets: Waiting on vacation approval.
[X] 4 1-Day Passes [X] Hotel Booked [ ] Buttons Ordered [X] Challenge Coin Ordered
[ ] Pre-PAX Dinner Tickets [ ] Girls Meetup Tickets [ ] Waiting Patiently...
PAX Prime Attendee since 2006, BYOC Attendee 2008-2012, Buttoneer since 2010
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Douglas
James Beard award-winning chefs typically don't screw around. I think that's all that needs to be said on that front. I've been to events at the Ballroom before, and they were done incredibly well. As a matter of fact, the Ballroom is where the annual Food Writer's (not the exact name but you get the point) conference is held each year.
Cap Hill caters to 4 types:
1) Hipsters
2) "I'm 24 and I'm SO COOL because I'm on Cap Hill!" types (which coincides with hipsters). This group will include 'woo girls', 'peaked too soon' types, and the 'I think I'm a lot more edgy and urban than I am' crowd.
3) SCCC students
4) The gay crowd (10 years ago, that just happened to be where all the gay bars were up until the hipsters invaded, and the gay community managed to hang on to SOME of their clubs in the assault).
I'm probably biased because group 4 is the only group that doesn't make my wife and I want to bash our own heads in with shovels. I won't argue there's not something to be said about staying with what is familiar, but Belltown is a much more eclectic mix of venues ranging from upscale to downright divey. There's also no reason to go down to the waterfront from 1st, since all of the bars are between 1st and 3rd - the waterfront is mostly condos. I've not experienced many cover charges at all in Belltown unless there was a large event going on (and I don't mean PAX, I mean like...Halloween, or Tiesto spinning in one of the clubs, etc.). The vibe is just much better in Belltown, IMO - though not nearly as good as Ballard. Problem with Ballard is you need a car, though.
As much as I would love to help, I work very long hours, usually in a datacenter environment, so this isn't something I can go too far with. I can go as far as giving you http://www.tomdouglas.com/ and telling you to click on catering, which will at least get an organizer started.
oooooh, they got an award! That's...nice, I guess. But the web site doesn't give out any sort of pricing information, or really anything useful. Just about all the other catering companies I've looked in to at least have general pricing and menu selections.
Also, TOGSolid, set your mind at ease, anything Tom Douglas makes tends to be delicious.
Pricing depends on what you want. You custom design the menu, they don't go "you can either have package A or package B". Pricing is also seasonal in nature. Salmon in July is cheaper than salmon in December. Sliders aren't going to cost as much as crab cakes, which aren't going to cost as much as boat-bled Chinook salmon over steamed kohlrabi with an aioli. There's a wide array of things you can order, and all of them are going to cost different amounts, based upon product and quantity of people. I'm just throwing out an EASy suggestion for you guys to navigate to. If you expect me to physically pick up your phone for you, dial the numbers, and then hold the thing to your ear so you can talk to the person on the other end of the receiver, you're going to be sorely disappointed. I can tell you from past experience that paid events I've gone to catered by TD at the Ballroom have been about 30 dollars per person.
And a James Beard award isn't just "an award". It's the damn Oscars of the culinary world. If you win one, congratulations, you're about to become a millionaire. Do you always get this snarky when someone is offering a positive suggestion and what is probably an ideal option, or do you reserve it for special occasions and the internet?
$30/per person with a sponsor, or without? Either way, I don't think now is the time to try a complete upheaval of the system.
Also... sponsor? As in the dinner gets a corporate sponsor, or an individual finds a sponsor?
yea i know the feeling same thing happened to me! I was soo scared i wasn't going to be at PAX this year! As for if you guys need any help the day of the dinner or up to a week before PAX I have the entire week off and I'm more than willing to donate my time (im broke
OK. Roughly $30 per person, now that is actually helpful info. That's all I was asking for... trying to some general info of who it's even worth contacting. Any idea of what the crowd size was for that event? I currently have NO phone access, and won't for a week and half... So, it just seems to me, that if someone is really gung-ho on a suggestion, it should be worth a small amount of their time to be able to come up with some basic information to pass on to the people that will be spending hours on the phone calling and comparing places.
I think it's great that people are offering suggestions... that's the whole point of this thread!!!
But, Quintious, you are coming across as though this guy that owns the catering company is obviously the ONLY solution because he received a pretegious award 18 years ago, and that we should just drop everything else that is being considered.
I am familiar with a couple of those restaurants owned by Douglas, and yeah, the food's not bad. But is it Seattle, and there are soooooo many tasty foods to choose from!!!
Not the only option, just the most practical. He's basically been credited with inventing Northwest cuisine. The food in this city is outstanding, that much is certain. It's just that a few of these chefs in the area (Tom Douglas, Thierry Rautureau, Ethan Stowell, John Howie, Jason Wilson, and 5 or 6 others) stand above the rest in a very competitive field out here. If any one of those chefs owned a catering business on the side, I'd push one of them, too. It's just that TD is the only one of our all-star chefs that's really branched out into that area.
I believe that @vespachica and @LexiconGrrl are being awesome and doing a scouting mission around the Hill on the 12th to check out pricing at a couple places.
Also, I'm more than happy to start making phone calls to venues and caterers once I get back to Juneau on the 15th... I'm on a ship in the Gulf of Alaska at the moment, so I don't really have any phone access.
Yes, we are scouting on 5/12 and I'm sure anyone who wants to join should drop us a line so we can all coordinate.
According to google, that puts the Ballroom around 1.25-1.5 mi to Cap Hill... So, not an ideal location if everyone wants to keep the TWDT on the Hill.
I did email the Tom Douglas catering to see if they would be able to provide a rough estimate of the cost for dinner that night. Will post when I get a response.